Game: Castle Merchants

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whoami — 2008-06-14T00:29:22+00:00

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guru_mod — 2007-12-09T19:15:48+00:00

Box Insert

Thread: Re: Castle Merchants - Review

Zambo — 2007-11-07T23:30:26+00:00

That Greg Schloesser's such a stand-up fella!

Thread: Re: Castle Merchants - Review

gschloesser — 2007-11-07T18:24:42+00:00

Nick Danger wrote:
gschloesser wrote:
A discussion with the designer also heightened this suspicion.

Let me also note how unbelievably responsible I think this was of Greg. It is way too easy to make knee-jerk reactions to one play of a game and my respect for Greg and his reviews have risen because of his contacting me and giving me the opportunity to explain the thought behind many of the choices I took when designing and play testing the game.

Something every reviewer should take notice of and could learn from.

Thanks SO much for your comments and praise, Nick! It truly means a lot to me.

Thread: Re: Castle Merchants - Review

Nick Danger — 2007-11-07T17:43:25+00:00

gschloesser wrote:
A discussion with the designer also heightened this suspicion.

Let me also note how unbelievably responsible I think this was of Greg. It is way too easy to make knee-jerk reactions to one play of a game and my respect for Greg and his reviews have risen because of his contacting me and giving me the opportunity to explain the thought behind many of the choices I took when designing and play testing the game.

Something every reviewer should take notice of and could learn from.

Thread: Re: Castle Merchants - Review

Nick Danger — 2007-11-07T17:35:46+00:00

dbmite wrote:
I disagree. Rarely do I feel at the mercy of the cards since the numerous options allow you to do things with the cards you currently don't need.

Naturally I agree, but it is important to note that card play is the mainstay of the game and as with most any card game it is possible to get a real bad run of bad card draws. Having said that though, I have played easily over 300 games of Castle Merchants and only once felt like I was getting shafted with card draws and unable to do anything to help my position.

dbmite wrote:
Overall the rules are tight and all of the options are necessary. If you're just drawing a card each turn then you're not utilizing all the game has to offer. You need to get cards out of hand to get new ones in. Luck does play some part but certainly not a major role. Even with a bad hand the numerous options allow players to figure out some sort of short term strategy.

And you must be willing to change tactics if things aren't falling your way or due to decisions from other players. You have to be able to take advantage of what the game is offering up at the moment and seize little victories while working towards the final one.

dbmite wrote:
This is a game filled with tricky plays and overall it's a solid and fun game!

Thanks! I think this game suffers the fate of many games where the game does not deliver the type/style of game that the player is expecting upon going in and is dissatisfied because of that. I should have done better in putting together a box blurb and focused more on it being a pick up and deliver race game rather than some kind of economic trading thing.

Plus, I think the game is best with 2 or 3 and I'm guessing most play it with 4 the first time through and if you don't "get" how to best manage your hand it is real easy to chalk it up as way too chaotic and luck filled with 4 players.

Thread: Re: Castle Merchants - Review

dbmite — 2007-11-07T16:01:45+00:00

Subsequent playings have, indeed, revealed that there is more here than meets the eye, and players do have a bit more control than I initially thought.

I agree. There are a number of options you can take to modify your position or hinder others.

Removing a tile is important if you just can't seem to get pass a certain point. Hitting the center of the board to replenish your hand is worth it and using the blocking tiles are very important in holding other players back.

While the designer may disagree, I still say that fortune still plays a major role in the outcome of the game.

I disagree. Rarely do I feel at the mercy of the cards since the numerous options allow you to do things with the cards you currently don't need. Overall the rules are tight and all of the options are necessary. If you're just drawing a card each turn then you're not utilizing all the game has to offer. You need to get cards out of hand to get new ones in. Luck does play some part but certainly not a major role. Even with a bad hand the numerous options allow players to figure out some sort of short term strategy. This is a game filled with tricky plays and overall it's a solid and fun game!

Thread: Castle Merchants - Review

gschloesser — 2007-11-07T13:47:04+00:00

Designer: Jerry Dziuba
Publisher: Z-Man Games
2 – 4 Players, 45 minutes – 1 hour
Review by: Greg J. Schloesser

NOTE: This review first appeared in Counter Magazine

Designed by Jerry Dziuba – better known by his online pseudonym Nick Danger – Castle Merchants from Z-Man Games is a bit of an enigma. When I first played, I found the game somewhat frustrating. It didn’t seem like there was a lot of control, and one’s fate was mostly determined by the cards drawn. No one at the table thought very highly of the game, and one was quite outspoken about his dislike for it.

In spite of this experience, I had an inkling that there was something more there. A discussion with the designer also heightened this suspicion. Subsequent playings have, indeed, revealed that there is more here than meets the eye, and players do have a bit more control than I initially thought.

Castle Merchants is set in the popular world of medieval times. Players represent merchants traveling the countryside to deliver their wares to the various castles in the realm. The land they must traverse is unknown, and skillful play of cards will allow the merchants to safely pass and beat their competition to the castles.

The board depicts a hexagon grid upon which players will place terrain tiles of five types. They then must play cards of the matching types to traverse these tiles. Five castles ring the realm, and each desires a specific type of good. Successful delivery of a good yields points for the player. These points range from 2 – 5, with the more valuable rewards being located at the more distant castles. Along the top of the board the terrain tiles are sorted by type, with each type arranged above a 1 – 6 numerical chart.

Each player begins the game with five wares in his cart, six terrain cards, and from 2 –4 rock tiles, depending upon the number of players. Rock tiles are played to block paths, and usually force players to take a longer route to their goal.

Each turn, a player may play a rock tile, followed by as many cards as he desires. Cards are played to lay the corresponding terrain tile to the board, as well as to move across tiles. Separate cards must be played to lay the tile and to move onto it. This is perhaps the most frustrating aspect of the game, as far too often a player possesses the cards to lay the tiles, but then no longer has the matching cards to move onto them. Frustration levels can rise as a player can often go turn after turn not drawing the card he needs. There are ways to manipulate the tiles, but these aren’t foolproof. I’ll explain that aspect of the game shortly.

A key movement tactic is laying several identical tiles in a row, then playing a matching card to move across ALL of those tiles with the play of that one card. This can allow a player to speed across large sections of the board. Of course, the player must have the correct combination of cards, which isn’t something easy to accomplish. This generally takes luck, or numerous turns hoarding cards in hopes of collecting numerous identical cards. Since one’s hand limit is six cards, though, this still requires a considerable amount of good fortune.

Another option on a player’s turn is to play two cards and remove one tile (excluding a rockslide tile) from the board. Sometimes this gets a difficult tile out of the way, allowing the player to play a card and place a more desirable tile in its place. Alternatively, the player may play two cards and roll the terrain die. He may then either place a tile corresponding to the number rolled, move a tile of that type to a new location, or even remove one of that type from the board. This can be useful, but it is risky, as the results of the roll are naturally random. This is the only way in which a rockslide tile can be moved or removed, as the rockslides lie at the number ‘6’ position on the chart.

If a player successfully reaches a castle, he may deliver the desired ware and take the highest-valued point token as a reward. Alternatively, the player may deliver the ware and elect to refill his hand to six cards. In the vast majority of cases, the point token will be selected, as the first player to reach 18 points wins the game. However, there are times when re-filling one’s hand can be more advantageous. Additionally, if a player ends his turn in a castle, he may roll the terrain die and exercise the same options described above.

A player ends his turn by drawing new cards equal to the number he played during the turn, but only up to a maximum of three cards. Thus, if a player plays more than three cards on a turn, he will find his hand capacity reduced for quite some time. In order to refill one’s hand to its full capacity of six cards, the player must return to the warehouse (where new goods can also be acquired), reach the center “meadow” hex, or surrender a ware in a castle as described earlier. Generally, most players will seek to exercise one or more of these methods during the course of the game, as possessing a full hand of six cards give the players far more options.

Another option a player has on his turn is to do nothing, save the possible play of one of his rockslide tiles, and simply draw one new card. This is a long, painful path to refill one’s hand, but sometimes it is necessary, especially when you are surrounded by tiles for which you have no matching cards, or if you have only a few cards in your hand.

Based on the distribution of point tokens, it is very, very unlikely that a player will be able to amass the necessary 18 points without having to return to the warehouse to refill his cart. It is possible, but that would require the player being the first to visit just about every castle. That is improbable. So, at some point, a player will be forced to return to the warehouse. While there, he may refill his cart with wares, and refill his hand to six cards. When to return and when to push on is an important decision, and could easily spell the difference between victory and defeat. It is sort of like making a pit stop in a car race. You have to do it, but when you do, your opponents have the opportunity to scoot ahead of you.

Due to the distribution of the point tokens and the fact that victory goes to the first player to amass 18 points, the game is essentially a race. While there is a temptation to wait until you amass a handful of needed cards, the hand limit and race aspect discourages players from spending too many turns accumulating cards. You must get to the castles fairly quickly, lest your opponents scoop the more valuable point tokens. Sometimes you can deliberately trail your opponents and utilize the pathway they have constructed. This isn’t foolproof, however, as it requires you to have the matching cards in your possession. Most of the time you will be building your own pathways, or at least attempting to manipulate existing ones.

There is no doubt that I enjoy the game now far more than I did after than initial playing. I have come to appreciate the various methods one can use to partially overcome the luck of the draw. I say “partially” as these methods are not certain, as they too can rely on random factors. While the designer may disagree, I still say that fortune still plays a major role in the outcome of the game. Tactics can help, and will quite likely be decisive in many games, but good fortune can still be the deciding factor in a fair share of matches. That won’t sit well with many folks who desire more control. For those who don’t mind a fair dose of luck in their games, however, Castle Merchants is worth investigating.

Thread: Re: Sit in a castle rolling dice?

Liumas — 2007-07-04T18:37:07+00:00

We would much rather play this game as intended! It is no problem to get a rules clarification, and other readers here will obviously benefit as well. I don't think we had any other questions regarding the rules other than these related few.

It will be more fun making more die rolls, as you say is the case (I figured so).

Thread: Re: Sit in a castle rolling dice?

Nick Danger — 2007-07-04T17:37:33+00:00

Well let me first apologize for any holes or vagaries in the rules as they are entirely my work. Naturally you are free to play using any rules interpretation that works best for you but let me tell you how the game was played during its creation.

The roll of the dice can take place any time during the turn, but must be done before picking up any replacement cards. Replenishing your hand is always the last thing you do and signals the end of your turn.

In hindsight using the term "movement" was a bad choice and I simply should have used the phrase "ending your turn in a castle", but if people want to play that you can only get a free dice roll if you moved into the castle on that turn I don't think it's a show stopper by any means. It just devalues the rebuild hand size option a smidge.

Thread: Re: Sit in a castle rolling dice?

Liumas — 2007-07-04T17:12:28+00:00

Thanks for the reply! Fun game, we enjoyed it. I lost (barely).

I thought this would be allowed in the spirit of the game, but we did it the other way by accident, and then decided to continue that way.

Your answer brings up another related problem.

According to the rules, you can only roll 1d6 in a castle after "ending movement in a castle". But, when you take turn Option 2 to "rebuild hand size", you do not get any movement! "Movement" is only allowed and available if you take Option 1. I suspect that your answer above is in keeping with the true spirit of the game.

Which reminds me of another issue we had with this 1d6 roll:

When does it occur? We decided that you can make the roll as soon as you end movement in a castle. Which means you can see the result of the 1d6 roll and then perform other non-movement actions before your turn ends.

[c] [/c]2 quotes from the rules pertaining to the above issues:

Castles
... A player ending movement in a castle (whether he sells wares or not) can then roll the path die ...
2B. Rebuild Hand Size
If a player has fewer than 6 cards (the hand maximum) he may forego playing any cards and instead draw one path card from the supply.
This action constitutes his entire turn with the exception that he may still place a rock slide tile (option 2A) if he desires.

Thread: Re: Sit in a castle rolling dice?

Nick Danger — 2007-07-04T12:39:54+00:00

Sure. That, in combination with using your turn to draw one replenishment card, can be a useful tactic in certain situations and makes that particular option (replenishment) more attractive.

Thread: Sit in a castle rolling dice?

Liumas — 2007-07-02T04:55:21+00:00

Can you sit in a castle, not move, and then roll 1d6 at the end of your turn?

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Runehardt — 2007-06-10T01:25:37+00:00

Merry Merchants!

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Runehardt — 2007-05-28T06:17:53+00:00

The cards

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Runehardt — 2007-05-27T22:52:04+00:00

Bad hand?

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Runehardt — 2007-05-27T22:51:10+00:00

Merchant Masters Mantha and Michael

Thread: Castle Merchants - Session Report

gschloesser — 2007-05-24T14:04:22+00:00

It has been awhile since I played this Jerry Dziuba design. It is one of those games in my collection that fall into the “Should I keep it or sell it?” category. It is a decent game, and I do have some fun with it, but it will never rise to the level of greatness. While I think it may be found to be a bit lacking with hardcore gamers, I do think it is a good game to play with families and social groups. That fact has kept it in my collection. Plus, my wife enjoys it, so I tend to keep those games around!

I immediately rushed to the opposite side of the board, hoping to claim the valuable ‘5’ point chip from Castle Chianti. I even managed to reach the meadow on my first turn, which allowed me to refill my hand to six cards. Jim followed in my footsteps, but veered off to other castles in order to scoop their high-valued chips. Gail stuck close to home, visiting the castles nearest the market.

After grabbing a quick lead, I saw it eclipsed by Jim, who managed to visit several castles before returning home to the market. In spite of our best efforts to impede his progress with rockslides, he managed to grab the final chip he needed to claim the victory.

Finals: Jim 18, Gail 14, Greg 13

Ratings: Jim 7, Gail 6.5, Greg 6

Thread: [Review] Castle Merchants

TomVasel — 2006-12-23T00:12:32+00:00

All right, I'll be honest; when I first read through the rules of Castle Merchants (Z-Man Games, 2005 - Jerry Dziuba), I was less than impressed. Moving goods around from castle to castle really sounded like a drab affair, even though I heard that the game was an excellent "gateway" game. Armed with this information, I introduced the game to some new players and waited to see the reaction. The game has elements of a racing game, and I was curious to see how it tied together with the theme.

And to my surprise, the game went over quite well. In the beginning of the game, I was a little concerned about the amount of luck, and the low amount of actions a player could take on their turn. Yet, over the course of the games I've played, I've seen people get amazing mileage out of their cards, laugh as they messed over someone else, and most importantly, have a lot of fun. The level of interaction is high, and players can pull off some nifty combos. The strategy is not overwhelming, as players basically have to deal with the cards they draw; but forward planning is possible, and the game is much more than luck.

Each player is given a reference card that also acts as their "cart" - on which they place one each of five different goods (cheese, jewels, weapons, cloth, and wine). Each player also receives two to four rock slide tiles, depending on how many players are playing; and the rest of the path tiles (castle path, village path, mountain path, field path, forest path, and rock slide) are placed next to the board in sorted piles - each pile corresponding with one number of a six-sided die. A board is placed on the table made up of a grid of hexagonal spaces, connecting five Castles and a Warehouse, where each player places a pawn of their color. Each Castle corresponds to one of the five goods that players are delivering and has a number of gold coins placed in them according to a table on the board (gold coins are valued from "1" to "5"). A deck of sixty path cards that correspond to the path tiles is shuffled, with six dealt to each player. One player is chosen to go first, and then play proceeds clockwise around the table.

On a player's turn, they have two options. They can either play one rock slide tile onto any space on the board, causing that space to be impassible, then draw one card. Or, they can play cards to take actions (and also play one rock slide tile, if they wish). The actions they can take are these (actions can be taken multiple times, if a player wishes):
- Play a card to place a matching path tile onto any empty space on the board.
- Play a card to move their pawn onto a path tile that matches the card played. Players may move along multiple path tiles if they are all the same type.
- Play any two cards to remove a path tile from the board.
- Play any two cards to roll a six-sided die. They may then remove a tile that matches that number from the board, rearrange one tile of that type - moving it to a different space, or add one more tile to the board of that type.
Once a player has taken the actions they wish, they draw up to three cards to refill their hand, keeping to the six card hand limit.

If a player moves into a castle, using any type of card, they may sell the ware that castle desires, placing it back in the warehouse, and take the highest gold coin still in that castle. This ends a player's turn. A player can also opt to not take a gold coin, instead, refilling their hand to six cards. If a player moves into the "meadow" (central hex), they can stop and draw up to six cards. A player can also do that if they enter the warehouse, as well as refill any goods that they may have sold already. Players continue to move around the board and sell goods until one player equals or exceeds eighteen gold - at which point they are declared the winner!

Some comments on the game…

1.) Components: I enjoy the layout of the game, and it has nice, functional components. That being said, the components were a little less than I have come to expect from modern games, with the round terrain tiles being thinner than I would like, and having only a plain white back. The pawns and die were also rather generic; although once the game got going, I didn't really care too much. The board, however, is very nicely done - with nice graphics - and even has a scoring track around the outside for those who can't count their gold pieces. It is a bit odd to see a castle that is constantly on the lookout for cheese, but I do understand the urge for wanting that fine cuisine. Everything very easily fits inside the large square box - almost rattling around inside.

2.) Rules: The four page rulebook is very clear on exactly how to play the game with a full page example of how to play the game. I will say that from the initial reading, I quickly understood the mechanics of the game and how to play but didn't grasp the overall picture - the fact that the game is basically a race. When I explain it to others that way, the entire concept is much easier to assimilate, and I have no problem at all. The artwork, reference cards, and board all lend themselves to understanding the game; and I had very few questions when teaching it - even to teenagers.

3.) Race: As stated above, the game is basically a race. Yes, it's not a race in the typical meaning of the word; but as you quickly attempt to get your caravan around the board and grab gold, the player who does this the fastest will be the winner. The game is all about speed and borrows a clever mechanic from Odin's Ravens by allowing a player to treat adjacent, equivalent terrain as one space. This means that if a player can set themselves up a nice path then can quickly zoom down it with only a few cards. Players will most likely have to go back to the warehouse at least once on their journey; and must decide whether or not it is more profitable to run out to the more lucrative, yet farther Castles, or to go to the closer, less profitable Castles.

4.) Interaction: The game has players directly affecting one another with their play. This is mainly done through the usage of the Rock Tiles, which can effectively stop an opponent dead in their tracks if they don't have the correct cards to maneuver around it. One fun tactic is to zoom across some nicely laid paths on the board then drop a rock tile in the middle so that no one else can take the same route. The evilness of the rock tiles is somewhat diluted by the fact that players only get a few of them each game. Also, while rare, a player can possibly remove them by discarding two cards, hoping they roll a "6". But rock slides are not the only way to affect an opponent. Sliding into a castle before they do to snag a gold coin, messing up their emerging paths with a different type, and moving a tile out of the middle of a long path of the same path tiles are other ways for players to interact.

5.) Cards: A player starts with a hand of six cards and can play as many as they want per turn but can only draw replacement cards up to three if finished. This means that if I play all six of my cards the first turn, I am effectively reduced to only using three cards on future turns, unless I wait a turn and simply draw one card, slowly increasing my hand back to six. Playing six cards at a time seems like a wonderful idea, usually, as it allows a player to accomplish a short term goal. But players must trade off getting achieving this small success with being hamstrung for the next several turns. There are ways around this, with players attempting to reach the meadow, or even trading a good to increase their hand back up. This, I think, is the heart of the tactical decisions to be made in the game. It's not about laying paths down and moving on them; it's about card management. He who manages their cards best will win the race.

6.) Fun Factor: Some people might be put off by the very interactive "take that" feature of gameplay, as players can really mess up an opponent. However, I find that this is much milder than it sounds, because a player has to take away from their own precious movements to do it. Don't get me wrong - I will gladly mess you up if you are in the lead, and I think it will help me catch back up. The whole aspect of the game is fun in this regard; and while the theme may be one of delivering goods to castles, there's a lot more than that in this enjoyable race.

So yes, I consider this fun game to be an enjoyable racing game, as players seek to stop one another while at the same time coasting around the countryside making good deliveries. It's easy to get into and play and only takes about forty-five minutes for a full game, making it an excellent one to teach new folks. Components are slightly lackluster, but the nice board and competitive play make up for it. Delivering cheese to the castle was never this much fun!

Tom Vasel
"Real men play board games"
www.thedicetower.com

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simonh — 2006-11-14T01:22:40+00:00

Castle Merchants played at BGG.CON'06

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simonh — 2006-07-06T16:51:24+00:00

Blue makes a break for Castle Excalibur

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simonh — 2006-07-06T16:51:15+00:00

The Warehouse and the terrain tile supply

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simonh — 2006-07-06T16:50:49+00:00

Green stops short of the castle. Red jumps in, takes the highest payment (4, not shown) and causes a rockfall behind green.

Thread: Castle Merchants: A Light Strategy "Race"

fizzix — 2006-06-27T14:18:46+00:00

Castle Merchants, from Z-man games, was a very quiet 2005 release. It was overshadowed by many of their other releases like Reef Encounter, Siena, and Parthenon. While the name suggests buying and selling,the box really doesn’t help one to discern the nature of the game. Castle Merchants is a light, pick-up-and-deliver-based, strategy game that scales well from two to four. I volunteer to demo games for Z-man and I hope this review does not offend Zev or the designer but I feel the need to be honest about several issues I have with the game as well as to praise the highlights.

Inside the box.

My biggest problem with the game is component quality. Let’s start with the board. Depicted on the board are a cluster of hexes. At five edges of the six-sided play area are castle spaces and the remaining edge is a warehouse, where players start. The graphics on the castles are functional but not stunning. Along one side of the board are spaces to store terrain discs and there is a spot for a draw deck and discards. Another nice feature of the board is that it clearly states the starting set-up, which changes based on the number of players. All of that sounds pretty good, and it is. However, the board has a glossy finish, not a linen-one like many other designer games and it has a crease-valley. This gives the board a very Hasbro-like look to it.

Based on the above, you’ve already figured out that there are cards and circular terrain discs. Again, I am under-whelmed by the quality. The terrain discs come in six types: grass, forest, town, mountain, castle, and rockslide. They have a glossy finish and are made of cardboard but the layers aren’t glued together very well. After two plays, some of the tiles were already starting to “fray”. Each card depicts one of five terrains (not rockslides). The cards are also thin, glossy and, most importantly, have a black border. The cards are shuffled and handled frequently in the game so their flimsiness and black border will cause the deck to wear quickly. In fact, the deck significantly whitened after two plays.

Next are the bits. I am very sorry to say that they are just awful. Each player’s merchant cart is represent by a tiny plastic pawn that looks like it came out of $2 Parcheesi game on sale at a Kay-Bee drug store. To me, this is unacceptable. At the very least, wooden pawns should be used. The game also has a die that isn’t much better. I know, a die is a die, but if you look at the plastic and the pips you can see that it looks cheap. Finally, there are cardboard counters that represent the 5 goods a player will sell at the castles and cardboard gold coins that a player will collect. The cardboard bits are of matching quality to the other cardboard items.

Every player gets a player-aid which holds one of each type of good. The player aid is a good size has a nice summary of rules on it, although one rule is written so briefly that it becomes misleading.

So… you get a board, a deck of cards, some cardboard bits, plastic pawns and a die for $39.95 retail. This is the part that bugs me. If Castle Merchants wants to compete on the shelves then you have to compare apples to apples and for $39.95 I could get Ticket to Ride, Elfenland, or Settlers of Catan. That’s my biggest issue with this game, it’s either overpriced or under-produced depending on your point of view.

Game Play

The object of Castle Merchants is to be the first player to reach 18 points worth of gold coins. You get coins by moving your merchant pawn into a castle and then selling a good of the kind that matches the castle (cheese at Castle Fromage, wine at Chianti Castle, etc…). When you sell the good you may take one coin from the castle but some coins have higher values than others and the castles that are further from the start warehouse have higher value coins.

On your turn, you play as many cards from your hand as you’d like to either put terrain discs on an empty hex or to move your pawn onto an adjacent terrain that matches the card you played. Moving into a castle, the warehouse, or the center of the board requires the play of any kind of terrain. There is one catch: if several terrain discs form a continuous chain, the play of a single card will move your pawn anywhere along the chain. This chain-movement is a nice aspect of the game because it creates situations that can help your opponents even more than you and thus it requires some thought before one creates a large chain. You can also remove terrain discs from the board (but not rockslides) by discarding any two cards. Each player has a few rockslide discs to start the game. These can be placed for “free” anywhere on the board and they are impassable. Finally, a player can discard two cards and roll a die which then allows the placement or removal of a randomly selected terrain disc. Rolling the die is the only way to remove obstacles. At the end of a turn a player draws as many cards as were played up to a maximum of three (so if you played six cards, you would just draw three). This makes hand management an issue and it adds a layer of strategy.

Selling goods in a castle requires you to end your move there. As you sell off goods, eventually you will need to return to the warehouse to get more and you’ll have to end your move in the warehouse to restock. You also get to refresh your hand of cards back to six in the warehouse. At the center of the board is a “feeding meadow” for your horses. Ending your move here allows you to replenish your hand back up to six cards.

The game ends immediately when the value of a player’s accumulated gold reaches 18.

Impressions

This isn’t a deep game but it isn’t mindless either. Every turn you have significant decisions to make: do you head to a close castle for a quick low score or move across the board for a big one? do you blow out your hand to make a move or play conservatively? do you play cards to help yourself or hurt others? I notice a few similarities in game play between this and Elfenland but they are still very different games.

Even with these decisions the game plays quickly if you have players willing to play this casually. The 2, two-player games I have played clocked in at 30 minutes. Playing this game with someone prone over-analysis could make this game a tedious event. There could be a "gang-up on the leader" issue in this game but I haven’t seen it emerge yet. I think that depends on the players.

All in all I think the game was designed fairly well and it doesn’t appear broken at all. I think the only knock I have against how the game plays is that there isn’t a “wow” factor for me. A light-middleweight game like this needs a good hook: something innovative in terms of bits, theme, or mechanics and this doesn’t have any of those things. In a small collection, this game would hit the table occasionally but in a collection of 100 games or more I think one’s interest would be drawn elsewhere.

Ratings out of 10

Components: 3
Rules and game play: 7
Overall: 5

Thread: Re: Castle Merchants - The Designer's View

shannona — 2006-02-24T19:14:58+00:00

Nick Danger wrote:
To be truly "stuck," I think, is more a mind set than an actuality of the game.

I agree with that assessment. Halfway through my first game I started kicking myself, realizing that at any time I could have played two cards to remove the piece that I was "stuck" in front of. My second game went much better.

Thread: Castle Merchants - Session Report

gschloesser — 2006-01-18T14:01:33+00:00

Designed by Jerry Dziuba – better known by his online pseudonym Nick Danger – Castle Merchants from Z-Man Games is a bit of an enigma. When I first played, I found the game somewhat frustrating. It didn’t seem like there was a lot of control, and one’s fate was mostly determined by the cards drawn. No one at the table thought very highly of the game, and one was quite outspoken about his dislike for it.

In spite of this experience, I had an inkling that there was something more there. A discussion with the designer also heightened this suspicion. Subsequent playings have, indeed, revealed that there is more here than meets the eye, and players do have a bit more control than I initially thought.

Castle Merchants is set in the popular world of medieval times. Players represent merchants traveling the countryside to deliver their wares to the various castles in the realm. The land they must traverse is unknown, and skillful play of cards will allow the merchants to safely pass and beat their competition to the castles.

The board depicts a hexagon grid upon which players will place terrain tiles of five types. They then must play cards of the matching types to traverse these tiles. Five castles ring the realm, and each desires a specific type of good. Successful delivery of a good yields points for the player. These points range from 2 – 5, with the more valuable rewards being located at the more distant castles. Along the top of the board the terrain tiles are sorted by type, with each type arranged above a 1 – 6 numerical chart.

Due to the distribution of the point tokens and the fact that victory goes to the first player to amass 18 points, the game is essentially a race. While there is a temptation to wait until you amass a handful of needed cards, the hand limit and race aspect discourages players from spending too many turns accumulating cards. You must get to the castles fairly quickly, lest your opponents scoop the more valuable point tokens. Sometimes you can deliberately trail your opponents and utilize the pathway they have constructed. This isn’t foolproof, however, as it requires you to have the matching cards in your possession. Most of the time you will be building your own pathways, or at least attempting to manipulate existing ones.

There is no doubt that I enjoy the game now far more than I did after than initial playing. I have come to appreciate the various methods one can use to partially overcome the luck of the draw. I say “partially” as these methods are not certain, as they too can rely on random factors. While the designer may disagree, I still say that fortune still plays a major role in the outcome of the game. Tactics can help, and will quite likely be decisive in many games, but good fortune can still be the deciding factor in a fair share of matches. That won’t sit well with many folks who desire more control. For those who don’t mind a fair dose of luck in their games, however, Castle Merchants is worth investigating.

Gail, Rhonda and I loaded our carts and set-out to deliver our wares to the distant castles. I blazed my own path on one side of the board, while Gail and Rhonda followed each other on the opposite side of the board. My “go it alone” strategy seemed wise at first, as I scooped the most valuable point tiles from the first two castles I visited. Meanwhile, Gail seemed stuck, and decided to head back to the warehouse after visiting just one castle – Castle Fromage.

Rhonda and I were both approaching Chianti Castle from different directions, and began placing rockslides in each other’s path in attempts to impede our opponent’s progress. We spent several turns attempting to circumvent these obstacles, while Gail was able to speed unimpeded to two more castles. I did manage to reach Chianti first, grabbing the valuable 5-point token, and decided to push on to Excalibur Castle as opposed to returning to the warehouse to refill my cart. This proved a disastrous decision, as I reached the castle, only to get stuck there and unable to draw or manipulate the tiles in my favor. I watched helplessly as Gail continued her circuit, eventually visiting six castles, gathering enough points to claim the victory.

Finals: Gail 18, Greg 14, Rhonda 8

Ratings: Gail 7.5, Rhonda 6.5, Greg 6.5

Thread: Re: review by Eggo (Moritz Eggert) from Westparkgamers

Nick Danger — 2006-01-10T18:56:06+00:00

Let me reply with some answers, explanations, and comments:

Castle Merchants is basically a racing game, not really a trading game, as the title suggests.

Very true, and the one thing I would love to call "Do over!" on. It was just an off the cuff blurb I added to the rules as I was typing them up for a submission to Hippodice. I was thinking of "trade" more in line with a trader meaning merchant. I just never gave it another thought and in hindsight I'd pull that blurb off.

Unfortunately, at this point all I can do is sing with Cher "If I could turn back time..."

These castles are aptly named after the wares they prefer, which makes one wonder why a castle called Chianti Castle doesn’t produce the stuff itself but has dubious peddlers sell it to them at cutthroat prices, but I digress...

Good point! I just liked getting a little goofy with the castle names.

One already can guess that terrain cards of the right kind are in high demand. To get them you have to either pass or go to the lawn space in the middle of the board to regenerate. But passing is what you will mostly have to do, probably 50% of the time - Which can become a little boring after a while...

You only lose hand size if you play more than 3 cards on a turn. Just a strategy point - if you are passing more than a few times a game you are not doing a good job of hand management (the game's primary skill). If you are passing 50% of the time you shouldn't stand a chance of winning. Quite honestly, if I had spent that many turns passing I'd have burned the game! Myself, I rarely ever spend a turn passing to pick up a card.

The game plays along at a good pace and is certainly a solid design, but one thing that players will realise quickly is that it is much less strategic than it pretends to be.

I'd make no claims that the game is highly strategic, but I do think there's more control there than most people think. Although the more players the less control there is. With 2 players, I'd suggest the superior player will win over 90% of the time. I like the game best with 2 or 3 myself.

In our game I had a good start with some lucky matching cards (I was also the first to move) and could create a headstart that the other players never really could overcome.

In our games being the first player to leave the warehouse is a risky proposition and is not a move taken lightly. Too easy to be overtaken and beaten to a castle by someone expending less cards. Decisions made early in the game can come back to haunt you later on.

The game material is of good quality and the symbols on the tiles and cards are very nicely done, although one could question a certain “dark” character that is evoked by some of the images which somehow jars with the lighthearted theme of the game.

True, but when I first saw Patrick's art I just fell in love with it - even if it didn't perfectly meld with the "feel" of the game.

The suggested playing time of 30-60 minutes is also a little too short, especially with 4 players this will be a longer game,

Wow, this I find strange. Maybe I can see it taking a bit longer for a first time play with 4, but in general I find 15 minutes per player is the norm, and that's not playing particular fast.

If you look for a gateway game to play with your family this might be the perfect choice, but as a gamer you might be looking for something more “meaty” after all.

I agree with that sentiment. If you're expecting a deep game you will be dissapointed. But I do feel there is more to the game than some have given it credit for. But I do understand how that can be missed as the stratgies are subtle, and I've seen some players make the same mistakes over and over and never really "get" the game. The victory doesn't always go to the swiftest.

Medieval Atmosphere: nonexistent apart of the title – this is a pure racing game, nothing more, nothing less.

Yeah, yeah, rub it in!

Diet – recommended for the guy on the cover

My wife still complains about that guy.

Moritz Eggert

Thanks for taking the time to play the game and comment about it!
- Jerry

Thread: review by Eggo (Moritz Eggert) from Westparkgamers

Eggo — 2006-01-02T20:52:42+00:00

Castle Merchants
By Jerry Dzubia

Z-Man-Games have gathered an impressive line-up of games in recent years. From their humble starts with the card game Grave Robbers From Outer Space they have gone to producing the American editions of the wonderful Il Principe and Reef Encounter, as well as some very nice games of their own making, like Ideology and Camelot Legends. Their new “big” board games at Essen were Parthenon and Castle Merchants, both pretty lushly produced games with big, tightly filled game boxes.
Castle Merchants is basically a racing game, not really a trading game, as the title suggests. Players compete to sell their wares at various castles placed conveniently around the hexagon board. These castles are aptly named after the wares they prefer, which makes one wonder why a castle called Chianti Castle doesn’t produce the stuff itself but has dubious peddlers sell it to them at cutthroat prices, but I digress...
Being the first to sell wares at a castle gives certain advantages, you’ll get more Gold Pieces for example (they double as VP – as I said, this is NOT a trading game) than the traders that follow second or third.
But movement around the board is where the fun starts. The poor castle merchants not only have to rush to the castles before their opponents, they also have to create the terrain they travel to as well AND then play cards to actually traverse the terrain tiles. You see, being a medieval trader was anything but easy...
When it’s your turn you can a) play an earthslide tile to make a formerly played terrain tile impassable b) play a matching card to create a terrain tile c) play a card to traverse a matching terrain tile (as many of this type as you want as long as you don’t cross over to another type d) play two cards and remove a terrain tile or e) roll the terrain die and create even more chaos on the board.
When you dare to roll the terrain tile (how dare you!) you roll one of the terrain symbols and can then place one of these terrains on the board or move an already existing terrain tile of this kind to another space or remove a terrain tile of this kind from the board. One should also add that it is possible to roll the terrain die for free when you just sold your junk at a castle, while having a Chianti and cheese with it, I guess.
One already can guess that terrain cards of the right kind are in high demand. To get them you have to either pass or go to the lawn space in the middle of the board to regenerate. But passing is what you will mostly have to do, probably 50% of the time - Which can become a little boring after a while...Once you have sold most of your wares you can also return to the warehouse to stock up, in fact this will usually always be necessary at least once to win the game, as to earn 18 GP’s means you will have to visit some castles several times.
The game plays along at a good pace and is certainly a solid design, but one thing that players will realise quickly is that it is much less strategic than it pretends to be. You need certain cards to play a certain tile, but then you need the same type of card AGAIN to traverse the terrain you just created. Of course you will often travel through terrain created by others later in the game, but especially at the beginning a good hand will help you a lot. In our game I had a good start with some lucky matching cards (I was also the first to move) and could create a headstart that the other players never really could overcome. Although it is possible to hinder players with the earthslide or with evil use of the terrain die these actions actually have a kingmaker problem, as they won’t really help the perpetrator. In a way this creates the Who Killed Doctor Lucky effect, (players who know this awful game will know what I mean) which means all players play against the momentary leader until they simply run out of possibilities to do so, a mechanic which is more than problematic.
On the good side this is a pretty straightforward game that can be taught quickly and which is neither opaque nor dull. Usually the players will either move clockwise or counterclockwise around the board to visit all the castles, sometimes one player will rush ahead but then will sit somewhere stocking up on cards again. The game material is of good quality and the symbols on the tiles and cards are very nicely done, although one could question a certain “dark” character that is evoked by some of the images which somehow jars with the lighthearted theme of the game. The suggested playing time of 30-60 minutes is also a little too short, especially with 4 players this will be a longer game, perhaps a bit too long for the content.

I don’t think Castle Merchants is a bad game in any way, but there is something lacklustre about it, something which is missing but hard to describe exactly. That was our reaction after playing: “nice, but....?”. If you look for a gateway game to play with your family this might be the perfect choice, but as a gamer you might be looking for something more “meaty” after all.

Explaining the rules: 10 minutes
Playing time: 90 minutes
Box: Big
Counters/Tiles: Heavy Stock – nice!
Medieval Atmosphere: nonexistent apart of the title – this is a pure racing game, nothing more, nothing less.
Diet – recommended for the guy on the cover
Not a filler game, not a “heavy” game, something in-between

Moritz Eggert
www.westpark-gamers.de

Thread: Castle Merchants - The Designer's View

Nick Danger — 2005-10-31T18:14:13+00:00

I wanted to take a moment and give potential Castle Merchants players an overview of the game and an inside look into my thoughts on playing it.

Castle Merchants is, at its heart, a racing game. You're racing against the other players to deliver goods to the various castles first because the one who gets there first gets the most gold for his wares. As is true with most racing games, it is not a heavily strategic game. I would classify the game as mildly middleweight. There is some depth to the game, but it is not going to tax your brain or cause analysis paralysis.

Also, like many racing games, what you do on your turn can depend heavily on what the other players in the game are doing. While you can formulate a long range plan, you must be prepared to change tactics if the play warrants it. To play Castle Merchants well, you have to sometimes risk hand size to seize scoring opportunities. In fact, this decision can often make or break a winning plan.

Castle Merchants is an easy game to jump into and play. There are not a lot of rules, and most are fairly intuitive, but it can also be a game that is a bit tricky to play well the first time. Besides being a racing-type game, the other major component of Castle Merchants is hand management. You use your cards to both build paths as well as traverse them.

The most common comments I heard from first time play testers was, "There should be wild cards. It's too easy to get stuck trying to draw the right card." In fact, I heard this so often I tried many variations on the theme of wild cards. In the end, I discarded all the ideas because, while they did remove possible pitfalls that inexperience players could fall into, they also removed strategic elements that were often employed to slow down and attack an opponent. In the end, I found it took away some of the depth of play.

My contention is that if you find yourself sitting in one spot trying to get that perfect card, you did something to get into that predicament. Perhaps the player needs to reassess his situation and change tactics. At a minimum, you can cycle three cards through your hand. There are only five different types of cards equally distributed. Also, you can use the cards you're cycling out to affect the other players or for setting up a future move. To be truly "stuck," I think, is more a mind set than an actuality of the game.

Another playing tip is judging when to leave the warehouse at the beginning of the game. This can have a major effect on your game. I look at the first few turns of the game like those first laps you see in cycle sprint racing where the racers slowly move around the track waiting for the right moment to take off racing. You can use this time to get your hand in a position to make a run and possibly use other player's tracks to pass them up and reach a castle first. Sometimes, depending on the number of players, it's nice to sit back and let the other players tip their hands as to what they are trying to do and then formulate a plan accordingly. I have won a three player game by letting the other two players race out to the more profitable castles while I sped between the two castles closest to the warehouse.

I consider Castle Merchants a family game. If you're looking for a deep, thought provoking "gamer's game," this is not it. It's an easy to teach, fairly interactive game that has some hidden depth to it and plays 2-4 people in about 15 minutes per player.

I will gladly answer questions about the game, the design effort, or my gaming thoughts in general if you have any.

Thread: Thornquist blurb

Innovan — 2005-06-07T21:34:23+00:00

Rick Thornquist gets sent the rules by the publisher, reads 'em and likes them.

http://www.gamefest.com/news/blog_detail/2644_0_12_0_C/